March 28, 2018

The reason why the sunny U.S. Southeast resisted solar power
for years is the same reason that explains its about-face: cost.

The region was long the country’s smallest solar
market, in part because state regulators argued it was just too expensive.
Now that prices have come down sharply, area utilities are embracing power from
the sun.

Virginia is the latest southeast state planning a solar
shift, with a law this month calling for 5.5 GW of wind and solar power.
Florida recently replaced an expensive coal-fired plant with cheap
solar power, and developers are eyeing South Carolina, where a $20 billion
nuclear power project was abandoned last year. Meanwhile, First Solar
Inc., the largest U.S. panel producer, is developing a solar farm in Georgia
that’s expected to be the region’s biggest.

“This is really all about cost competitiveness,” Colin
Meehan, First Solar’s director of regulatory & public affairs, said
during a panel discussion Tuesday at Infocast’s Solar Power Finance &
Investment Summit in San Diego.